Of course, after Asher deprived Kevin of his powers, he'd kept quiet about it for selfish reasons, it wasn't confirmed that Kevin had committed these murders.
In other words, preventing Kevin from doing something terrible in the future by stripping away his superpowers now felt unreasonable without concrete proof of wrongdoing.
"I didn't expect him to be that kind of person..."
Ben said with a stunned expression, his voice carrying genuine disappointment. He'd gained one important lesson from this situation:
In the future, he'd need to be far more cautious about making friends.
"Ben, we're still not entirely sure it was him," Max said calmly, his voice measured and thoughtful. His priority was comforting Ben first before they jumped to conclusions. "Maybe it's another enemy of this gang of thugs? We can't make assumptions too early."
Then he turned to Asher with a questioning look. "Asher, do you only have information about the grievances between Kevin and this group of people?"
"Yeah, that's it," Asher nodded.
"This is troublesome."
Max, Ben, and Gwen all frowned simultaneously, their expressions mirroring each other's concern.
How were they supposed to investigate with so little to go on?
They couldn't just sit back and condone that monster's reckless behavior!
At that moment, inspiration struck Asher like lightning. His eyes lit up as he exclaimed, "I have a solution!!"
"What solution?"
"Did you think of it so quickly?"
Max, Ben, and Gwen all turned to stare at Asher, their curiosity plainly visible on their faces.
"This serial killer must be an enemy of the gangsters, "that much is certain!" Asher explained rapidly, his words coming out in an excited rush. "So we just need to find the other gang friends of those dead thugs, people who haven't been killed yet, and wait there in advance. We can set a trap and catch the murderer!!"
He finished with a flourish, proud of the strategy he'd devised.
"Good idea!"
Ben slapped his right fist into his left palm enthusiastically, nodding in complete agreement.
"But Asher, how do we get the information on these people?" Gwen asked, her practical nature surfacing immediately. Worry creased her features. "It's not like we can just look them up in a phone book."
"It's actually very simple. The Omnitrix can handle it!"
Asher turned on the Omnitrix's holographic display screen, twisted the dial to the pattern of Grey Matter, and slapped down on the activation button!
FLASH!!
His body vanished in an emerald burst of light, replaced instantly by a super dwarf-like little alien, no more than six inches tall with grey skin, frog-like features, and enormous intelligent eyes.
"A Galvan," Max observed, looking down at the diminutive Grey Matter with recognition dawning in his expression. "The most intelligent species in the known galaxy."
"Now I need a laptop."
Grey Matter's small eyes radiated wisdom and calm authority despite his tiny size. His voice carried absolute confidence that demanded respect!
Gwen quickly retrieved her laptop and spread it out in front of Grey Matter, opening it to the home screen.
Grey Matter sat directly on the touchpad of the notebook, his small body perfectly positioned. He stretched out his tiny fingers laboriously and began typing on the keyboard!
The moment his fingers touched the keys, something extraordinary happened.
He accessed the computer system with a single glance.
In that instantaneous moment of contact, he immediately understood all the mysteries and code architecture of the entire computer system!!
"Now it's time to witness a miracle."
Grey Matter displayed an expression of absolute confidence on his small face. After asking Max to bring some chopsticks from the nearby table, he used them to quickly click buttons that were far away from his position, while his legs were responsible for stepping on the keys that were within reach!
Click-click-click-click-click!
The rapid sound of keystrokes filled the air as his fingers, feet, and chopsticks moved in perfect coordination. The screen instantly went black, and then countless strings of code appeared, cascading down the display like digital rain!
Grey Matter selected one particular string among thousands and clicked it without the slightest hesitation!
A brand new image jumped onto the computer screen!
It showed a green-haired punk with facial piercings, along with his complete profile displayed underneath!
Home address, elementary school attendance records, and even his dense network of relationships, "everything was compressed and displayed in neat rows of data!
"What... what did you just do?!"
Gwen stared at the scene unfolding before her eyes, completely dumbfounded.
She'd always been the smart one among her peers, the genius of her age group.
But she couldn't even begin to keep up with Grey Matter's thinking process!!
"It's very simple," Grey Matter said in an understated tone that somehow made his accomplishment sound even more impressive. "I just figured out all the coding architecture of this system, then broke through the firewalls of every major database in the world, and located all the information on this gangster through data cross-referencing."
His casual words were enough to make every hacker on the planet take a deep, envious breath!
In just two or three minutes, he'd breached the Internet security of the entire world!!
In other words, if Grey Matter wanted to, he could build his own "Matrix" without breaking a sweat!!
This was the terrifying potential of Grey Matter!
The capabilities were endless, and he required no system enhancement whatsoever, this was just his natural baseline intelligence as a Galvan!
"Network relationships, open them up."
Grey Matter pointed to the mouse in front of him. He asked Ben to help move the cursor and click on the gangster's relationship network diagram.
Soon enough, everything appeared on screen.
His family members, his girlfriend, even his dog, and all his punk friends were displayed in an interconnected web of connections!
His friends could be summed up in one word: colorful. A rainbow coalition of troublemakers.
After excluding some of the gangsters who'd already died in Kevin's rampage...
Grey Matter immediately commanded Ben, directing him to click on the information of the surviving gangsters to find their current residences!
"Abandoned RV at the entrance of West Alley... I didn't expect them to be living in a place like that," Ben exclaimed, reading the address with surprise.
FLASH!
Grey Matter suddenly jumped off the bed onto the wooden floor, his small face urgent with concern, "There's no time to waste!! The murderer has access to advanced alien technology and must be incredibly fast. If he attacks these people before we arrive, and we don't catch up in time, then all the clues will be completely cut off. We won't be able to find him even if we want to!"
This was their last real lead!
Hearing those words, Max leaned forward and gently grabbed Grey Matter's tiny body with his hands, lifting him carefully and placing him in his shirt pocket. "Sorry about this, Asher, but your speed in that form is really worrying. Ben, Gwen, let's go!!"
"It's too undignified," Grey Matter muttered from inside the pocket, his small face showing a lifeless expression of resignation.
After they boarded the Rust Bucket, Max finally let Grey Matter out of his pocket. Fortunately, the Omnitrix's timer activated just as he emerged, and Grey Matter transformed back into Asher in a flash of green light.
If he'd changed back while still in Max's pocket, "well, the consequences would have been catastrophic and uncomfortable for everyone involved.
"Seat belts, put them on!"
Max glanced at a nearby shortcut path ahead, his expression becoming deadly serious. He fastened his own seatbelt tightly, pulling it until it clicked.
Although he knew Grandpa never did anything he wasn't confident about, Asher still sat nervously in his seat and fastened his seatbelt immediately. "Grandpa, be careful. If there's a car accident, we're all done for."
"Don't worry!" Max showed a confident smile that spoke of decades of experience. "Your grandfather has driven everything imaginable back in his day! An old RV is no problem whatsoever!"
The Rust Bucket began to transform, mechanical parts unfolding as it deployed its thruster configuration. Then it rushed directly into the narrow path at full speed, rocketing toward West Alley at breakneck velocity!!
Meanwhile, outside the back door of a burger joint not far away...
Kevin used his robotic palm to grab a hot burger he'd just snatched from the terrified shop owner. He stuffed it into his mouth with a gust of voracious appetite, speaking through his mouthful of food, "You've still gotta eat something to feel comfortable."
"Everything... everything you wanted, I gave it to you, and the money too," the shop owner knelt beside him, trembling violently. His whole body radiated extreme fear, as if he'd encountered the devil himself in human form. "Please, I'm begging you, don't kill me..."
"Don't worry, I'm just taking revenge on my enemies," Kevin said around his hamburger, swallowing before offering what seemed like a comforting smile to the terrified man. "You don't have to worry about anything."
"Phew, thank you, thank you so much." The shop owner felt momentary relief wash over him when he heard this. He quickly raised his head to express his gratitude.
His expression suddenly froze solid.
Every hair on his body stood up in primal terror.
The shop owner's eyes widened as he saw the cannon integrated into Kevin's robotic palm aimed directly at his face.
FWOOSH!!
A red energy beam penetrated straight through the shop owner's body.
The man fell heavily to the ground, dead before he even understood what had happened.
Kevin's eyes didn't change at all, showing no more emotion than if he'd just swatted a bug. "You talked way too much. What I want, there's no need for you to give permission!!"
WHOOSH!!
Kevin's body lifted off the ground, his integrated thrusters activating. He took flight, soaring toward West Alley with mechanical precision!
Time to find the last few enemies on his list!!
☆☆☆
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
☆☆☆
-> 50 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/AshenMoon
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you